MacArthur faces angry crowds at town hall in Willingboro

David Levinsky @davidlevinsky

Wednesday

May 10, 2017 at 12:01 AMMay 10, 2017 at 9:30 PM

WILLINGBORO — Congressman Tom MacArthur defended the Republican health care bill he is credited with helping to revive and advance Wednesday night during a raucous town hall meeting that featured almost continuous booing and shouting from angry constituents.

Standing in the center of a packed John F. Kennedy Center, MacArthur, R-3rd of Toms River, attempted to answer questions on the health care legislation, as well as President Donald Trump's decision to fire FBI director James Comey and the status of the congressional investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 election.

But the congressman, considered the architect of the controversial American Health Care Act, was repeatedly interrupted and drowned out by the angry crowd as he tried to explain his positions.

At one point when he attempted to discuss the legislation, the crowd started to chant "single payer!" At various times, the crowd shouted "liar" as MacArthur answered questions.

An audience member also called out "shame" when MacArthur began discussing his 11-year-old daughter Gracie, who was born with special needs and died in 1996.

“Health care is now approaching 20 percent of GDP. If we don't find ways to bring down the costs, it will swallow us all alive.”

The packed crowd at the John F. Kennedy Center would not be placated and repeatedly interrupted his responses with boos and heckling.

Hundreds of people began demonstrating outside the community building hours before the evening event began and the protests continued throughout the meeting.

About 300 people were permitted inside the center, which was the same venue used by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Murphy two weeks ago.

The second-term congressman said he expected a hostile audience.

“I’m here for a reason. I recognize there’s a lot of anxiety in this county and a lot of anger,” he said, drawing more jeers and interruptions.

He chose to hold the public forum in Willingboro, a town known as Burlington County's biggest Democratic stronghold and where 90 percent of the electorate voted for former President Barack Obama.

MacArthur said he “crushed it” with 12 percent of the Willingboro vote, drawing laughter, the one light moment in an event punctuated by angry outbursts.

One man in the audience said he believed there was something “mentally wrong” with President Donald Trump before he challenged the congressman: “How long are you and your Republican friends going to defend this American nightmare?”

MacArthur responded that the other side of his district in Ocean County is home to a large majority of residents who voted for Trump during the last election.

“I hear your anger and I feel all the angst in this room. But when I drive across the Pinelands (to Ocean County) for every one of you there’s someone who disagrees with you,” he said.

MacArthur has been targeted by groups opposed to the ACA's repeal since he first voiced support for the measure. But the opposition has intensified since he authored an amendment that revived the legislation after it nearly sank several weeks ago due to opposition from GOP moderates and conservatives.

The amendment allows states to seek a waiver from some, but not all, of the Affordable Care Act's requirements for insurance plans. While the amendment specifies that insurers cannot refuse coverage to people based on pre-existing medical conditions, it does permit states to ask for a waiver of a rule restricting them from pricing consumers differently based on health status, provided they also create or participate in a "high-risk pool" to ensure sick people can still obtain affordable coverage.

Thanks in part to MacArthur's effort, the House narrowly approved the bill last week by a vote of 217-213, close to the bare minimum needed for passage and with no Democrat votes.

Officially known as the American Health Care Act, the legislation was decried as both "Trumpcare" and "MacArthurcare" by protesters at the event, who cited a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicting that some 24 million Americans might lose health care coverage by 2026 if an early version of the legislation becomes law, mostly because of rising premiums, cuts to Medicaid and the end of the individual mandate.

The CBO has yet to score the bill following the changes made by MacArthur and other lawmakers.

The GOP bill would also eliminate the fines President Barack Obama's law imposed on people who don't obtain coverage, erase tax increases in the Affordable Care Act on higher-earning people and the health industry. It would also cap federal funding for state Medicaid programs for low-income people, transform Obama's subsidies for millions buying insurance, and allow states to get federal waivers freeing insurers from other Obama coverage requirements.

MacArthur, who spent 30 years as an insurance executive, has insisted that people with pre-existing conditions would continue to be protected and that an alternative to the Obama law was required due to skyrocketing insurance premiums and decreasing consumer choices from insurers leaving individual state markets.

"I want every American to be able to afford to get health care. That’s been my goal from the very beginning,” he said.

“I get that you don’t agree with me. Millions of people under the current law are not finding the coverage they need. That’s what I’m trying to fix.”

The crowds in Willingboro were skeptical.

“The Affordable Care Act has many flaws. The problem is (the American Health Care Act) has many more flaws,” said an Ocean County resident.

MacArthur tried to soothe peoples’ fears about the health care overhaul, saying the legislation does not seek to cut Medicaid funding or price out people with pre-existing conditions.

He said the Medicaid caps were intended to keep the program sustainable.

“Twenty-five percent of the U.S. population is on Medicaid and it’s on its way to being a $1 trillion expense,” he said, adding that the caps were intended to get states to partner in controlling costs.

“It says to states you’re not going to get an open checkbook,” the congressman said.

Likewise, he said the proposed federal waivers were needed to prevent the individual insurance markets from collapsing in some states. He said putting people with the highest costs in taxpayer subsidized “pools” was needed to keep them covered and bring down the costs for other consumers.

But he spoke against the so-called “single-payer” option, saying it would eliminate all competition among insurers and allow the federal government to decide what doctors and hospitals get compensated.

“I don’t want a health care system where the only one making decisions is federal bureaucrats,” he said. “My fear is if we don’t fix this, people are going to start losing their insurance that they desperately need.”

While the atmosphere was hostile, some at the town hall said they appreciated MacArthur’s willingness to hold the forum to hear their viewpoints.

"I’ve got a great deal of admiration for your toleration for masochism. But I don’t agree with you,” said one of the attendees.

“No I don’t enjoy getting yelled at. But I answer to you,” he said. “Whether I enjoy it or not, I owe it to you."

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